Stained Glass
by Koolsnowball
Summary: Post KHII AU. A continuation of sorts, hence the AU. So, their Heartless and Nobodies destroyed, the former members of Organization XIII are enjoying a fresh start. Sadly, this doesn't mean they're getting a break.
1. Chapter 1: A Rope of Sand

Author's Notes: I'll try to avoid doing these as much as possible, but, uh, there are some things I'd like to say before we begin.

1) I haven't uploaded anything in possibly around five years, so bear with me as I work my way through this, um. New system. ...And formatting.

2) I realize this is probably not what happens when a Nobody and a Heartless are destroyed, but uh. I just wanted to toy with this idea anyway. Hence, the AU.

3) This... is probably going to take a bit for things to pick up, but, uh, in the meantime, if you notice anything off, from spelling and grammatical errors to problems with my charcterization to glaring plotholes, by all means, please point it out to me! I'd prefer this in the form of a nice, civil review o' constructive criticism and stuff, but, um. Beggers can't be choosers?

* * *

_...ever moves..._

_...never ends completely _

_everything...allowed..._

His feet touched the floor lightly, and once his weight was settled, he opened his eyes and still saw nothing but

-

_I had the__** weirdest**__ dream last night you guys! Only… I can't really remember it now, I just know I woke up thinking it was weird. Well, actually, that's a lie, I__** can**__ remember a few things, like a monster or few, and standing on a window or something, Idunno, it was weird._

Axel raised an eyebrow at the entry. Not only was it odd that Demyx was posting this early in the morning, he usually was a little more coherent about what he wrote about, at least when excited. Axel took another sip of coffee and scrolled down.

_Oh! That also reminds me! You were in it too, Red! _

Hm, weird, Axel thought, then read the next bit.

_(Don't get too flattered – it wasn't __**that**__ kind of dream ;P)_

And almost snorted that sip of coffee.

He set the cup down and reached for the keyboard.

_Well, I don't know about you, bluefish, but I kind of figured any dream with us getting it on would be classified as a __**nightmare.**__ Unless you're rabbit-ears, I guess._

Axel paused, thought for a moment and added, _By the way, I'm going to kill you when I get to school today. Not that you'll be getting this warning before then, but, y'know, in case anyone is curious._

He sent the comment with a nod, then grabbed his bag and left for school.

-

Later in the afternoon, at a high-school a few streets away, a boy with long, blue-tipped, dirty-blonde hair sat slumped over his desk, doing a very good impression of someone who was asleep. Or dead. He maintained this position as a few people left the classroom and several wandered in, but raised his head the moment he heard the unmistakeable heavy thud of a backpack hitting the ground beside him.

"Hey, Axel!" he exclaimed, shooting a grin up at the messy-haired teen. Axel met his grin with a smirk and took the seat next to him.

"Well, don't you look thrilled to be here," he commented dryly.

The boy shrugged and slumped back on the desk, "Uhn, it's too early for English!"

Axel raised an eyebrow, "Lunch just ended, Demyx."

"Yeah? It's still too early."

Axel rolled his eyes and changed the subject, "So, you dreamt about me last night, huh?"

Demyx looked a bit sheepish, "Ah, you read that already?"

"Yes, Demyx, I _do_ occasionally wake up early enough to check my inbox."

He leaned forward menacingly and continued in a slightly less amused tone, "Especially when I was expecting an e-mail from a group-member."

Demyx smiled nervously, "Uh, didn't I?"

"If you had, would I be giving you shit right now?"

"… Yes?"

"Demyx--"

Demyx straightened and raised his hands, "Look, I _swear_ I sent it to you guys! I don't know what happened! Maybe your sister deleted it or something! You guys still share the same computer, right?"

"Yeah, but I checked this before she even got up today, Demyx. By the way, I had to slog through like, three pages of campy chain-mail on a crappy connection."

"Look, I'm sorry, but I _know_ I sent it!"

Axel crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, looking quite sceptic, "Are you sure you didn't just _dream_ it?"

Demyx glared and frowned, slumping back on the desk and staring at the chalkboard, "Don't be such an ass about it, I know for sure I at least sent it to Larxene and myself."

"Whatever."

They were quiet for a few minutes as more students filed in.

"Oh, hey, how's your shoulder by the way?" Demyx asked out of the blue.

Axel rolled it and winced, "Eh, it's really sore, I think I slept on it funny or-" he stopped rubbing it, sitting up suddenly as he spun to look down at Demyx, "How the hell did you know it was hurting?"

Demyx turned his head slightly and glanced up at Axel, "I _said_ I dreamt about you, didn't I?"

"What, you just dreamt that my shoulder would be hurting today?"

Demyx half-shrugged and glanced to the side as he recounted, "Not really, I can't really remember it now, just a few things, and one of them was you whacking your shoulder really hard on something."

"Huh, weird," Axel thought for a moment, then added, "Anything else you remember?"

Demyx shrugged again and looked back at the chalkboard, "Not much, just these big bright doors, and this floor that was like stained glass."

Axel thought again for a moment, then added, "Was it red and orange?"

"What, the glass? I don't know, maybe – wait," he sat up again, "are you saying you had the same dream as me?!"

Axel shrugged this time and leaned back, "Who knows? They're awfully similar…"

Demyx nodded, "Hm … Hey, did anyone appear in y-"

He was suddenly cut-off as something slapped him in the back of his head, _really_ hard.

"Demyx, you son of a bitch, you didn't send me your goddamn share!" the owner of that something snapped.

"Well hello to you too, Larxene," Demyx grumbled, rubbing the back of his head and sending back a glance that said he was all too used to this.

Axel sniggered, drawing another glare from Demyx, who continued, "And I don't know what you're on, but I sent the friggin' file!"

Larxene dropped into her chair, looking quite ticked despite the size of her grin.

"My inbox was completely empty of new messages this morning, Demyx. Unless it was a magical, _invisible_ message-"

"Bullshit!" Demyx turned around to completely face her, "I_ sent_ it! I _know_ I did! I _clearly_ remember hitting the send button! Did you put my e-mail on your junk list again or something?!"

"That box was empty too, Demyx."

"What the hell!" Demyx exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "—Alright, we'll sign out and I'll _show_ you because I sent it to myself separately!"

Larxene rolled her eyes, "Fine, whatever you say. But I _swear_, if I have to BS your third of our assignment-"

"You won't," Demyx muttered, turning back as the teacher came in, "don't worry, I've got it."

-

"What do you mean I don't got it!?"

Axel clicked his tongue, "Language, Demyx, 'what do you mean I don't _have_ it' is the grammatically correct response. Also acceptable is 'what do you mean I didn't get it'."

Demyx glared at Axel, "Shut up! I – rgh, what the hell!?" he hissed, clicking around his inbox.

"So, is it there?" Larxene asked as she approached the two. Axel shook his head, and Larxene rolled her eyes, "Colour me surprised then. It's a good thing I anticipated your failure and already asked about it – the teacher says we can hand this stuff in at the end of the day."

"Great!" Axel said with less enthusiasm than the exclamation point suggested, "Then ladies and gentlemen, start your bull-"

"No way," Demyx cut in, sounding determined, "I didn't spend half the night writing that thing just to half-ass my share now."

Larxene raised an eyebrow, "Are we a little upset, Demyx?"

"Darn right, this is personal now! I'm going back and getting the stupid thing myself!" Demyx accentuated his plan by slamming his fist on the computer desk, earning a glare from one of the boys working at the table across from them. After a pause, Demyx slowly turned and looked back at Larxene and Axel.

"Uh, can I borrow your memory-stick-thing, Larxene? I don't trust my e-mail service anymore and I don't think I have anything else to move files with…"

The blonde woman stared at him for a long moment, before sighing and giving in, fishing the flash-drive out of her pocket and handing it over.

"Fine. If you lose it, I'll make a new one from your bones and kill you."

Demyx raised an eyebrow, "Uh, shouldn't you mean it the other way around?"

Larxene just kept grinning, which seemed to closer resemble an animal baring their teeth. Axel just raised an eyebrow, then his hand.

"I'll go with him and make sure he doesn't screw up, Larxene."

"That doesn't actually comfort me, believe it or not," Larxene pointed out at the same time Demyx protested the need to be followed.

Axel rolled his eyes, "Relax, rabbit-ears, we'll see you in a bit," and with a grin, he grabbed Demyx by the arm and they quickly exited the library before Larxene could fully react to her old nickname.

They were silent for a good half of the walk to Demyx's house, when Axel suddenly broke said silence, but not with the usual conversational fare.

"What the hell was that?" Axel said confusedly, glancing to the hedge bordering the lawn they were passing.

Demyx tilted his head and looked where Axel was, "What was what?"

"Didn't you see – wait—"

Axel held a hand out at Demyx unnecessarily as he had already stopped.

"There, in the bush-" they both crouched to get a better look, and after twenty seconds of nothing, they met a pair of yellow eyes.

"Woah, what _is_ that?" Demyx repeated, craning his neck for a better look, "Is it a cat?"

"Nope, cats don't have eyes like that," Axel stated, half-distracted. Why did those eyes look so familiar…

"Maybe it's a new kind of 'designer dog' or something," Demyx tried again, only to have Axel shake his head.

"No, I'm pretty sure dogs don't have antennae…"

"Wait a minute, what?"

Axel pointed vaguely at the thing's head, "See the little antennae-things there?"

Demyx raised an eyebrow, while the thing only tiled its head back at them, "Those _aren't_ ears?"

"Ears _typically_ don't look like that."

"Well, you never know how crazy animal-breeding can get, I mean-"

While Axel would have _loved_ to hear Demyx go on about weird dog breeds, that was about when the thing in the bushes twitched its head again and took Axel's extended arm as an invitation to pounce on him.

"AH – WHAT THE HELL?!" Axel yelled as he went down. Demyx yelped and stepped back before he was realizing it, but seeing the thing in the light, he stopped and rubbed his chin.

"Hm, definitely not a dog…"

"DEMYX! If you wouldn't mind _helping_ me out here?!" Axel cried, _"Get this thing off of me!"_

"Oh!" Demyx exclaimed, looking around for something to use as a weapon. Not finding anything, he instead settled for kicking the little dark thing away.

The thing flew off Axel with surprisingly little resistance, and crashed into the bushes from whence it came.

Axel sat up and the pair just stared at where the thing had disappeared, and a few tense moments later, the yellow eyes were back. But before either of them could say or do anything else, several dozen other pairs of eyes joined it.

"Holy shit-" Axel started, scrambling to his feet and cut off by Demyx as he shouted "RUN!" and they both did so, sprinting over concrete and grass and not stopping until they were inside Demyx's house.

"What the hell were those?" Axel panted. Demyx shook his head, equally out of breath, "I dunno, that's why I was asking you before."

Axel shook his head in response, then turned enough to look out one of the windows beside the door. Out front was a lovely green lawn, a few bright flowers swaying in the breeze, a line of nearly-identical houses across the street and all the other things you'd expect to see in a middle-class suburb. Which also meant no living shadow-things poking their heads out of hedges. Demyx was following Axel's example, and assumedly finding nothing either.

"Weird," he commented, before silence returned while the pair continued looking.

"So, Demyx, at any point in time today, did we get really stoned? 'Cause, ya know, that would explain a lot," Axel asked casually after a minute, craning his neck.

Demyx answered by shaking his head, before stepping back from the window and straightening.

"Well, uh," he attempted, scratching the back of his head. Axel turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, and Demyx just gave up and shrugged.

"Eh, let's just get that file and go," he sighed, jerking his thumb in the direction his computer was in.

"Right, whatever, mind if I chill on your couch for a bit?"

Demyx shrugged, "If you want, but Axel-"

Axel stopped and shot an annoyed look over his shoulder, "Yeah?"

"I kind of need Larxene's USB-thing first."

Axel tossed Demyx the drive and lingered long enough to see him catch it (to his surprise, really) before heading off to the living room.

-

_life ever moves on_

_refreshes, restarts, but never ends completely_

_everything is allowed a second chance._

His feet touched the floor lightly, and once his weight was settled, he opened his eyes and still saw nothing but black all around, except for the floor, which seemed to be made of stained glass. He stepped back a bit, and saw that the pattern seemed to be that of a giant

-

"Hey Axel, I've got the goods, let's go!"

Axel blinked, saw Demyx waiting expectantly in the doorway of the living room, then sat up. He tried to recall what he'd dreamed about – he had the feeling that it was important, but every time he thought he got close, well, he suddenly wasn't. But he _knew_ it was almost there,_ knew…_

Demyx reappeared in the doorway, looking impatient, "Well? Come on!"

Axel shook his head, before sliding off the couch and following after his English partner.

This time, the silence lasted until they were inside the halls of the school. Well, silence in the sense that they said nothing to each other. Demyx occasionally filled up the quiet with humming or whistling some tune or another, before finally giving up as they entered the building. Clearing his throat slightly, he shot a glance over at Axel.

"So, uh, how 'bout those things we saw, huh?"

"Hm?" Axel responded, turning from his own thoughts to look at Demyx.

Demyx shrugged and scratched the back of his neck, "Uh, y'know. Those things. The ones that chased us to my house."

Axel shrugged and looked back ahead, "Yeah, what about them?"

Demyx looked at his friend incredulously for a second, "What do you _mean_ 'what about them'?! Shadows came out of a bush and _attacked_ us, Axel! That doesn't exactly happen every day!"

Axel blinked and quirked an eyebrow, "Well, Demyx, what am I _supposed_ to do? Tell the authorities?"

Axel held a hand to his ear, miming talking into a phone, "Hi, 911? These shadows that kind of looked like bugs with big glowing eyes sprung out of a bush and chased my friend and I down the street. What was that? No, we're not under the influence of any drugs, why do you ask? No, I don't have a history of mental problems --- hello?"

Demyx rolled his eyes, "Alright, I get it, but, I dunno, isn't there _something_ we could do?"

Axel shrugged again and turned down the hall, swinging Larxene's flash drive by its strap. Demyx frowned and went to catch up.

"Well?" he pressed.

"Beats the hell out of me," Axel finally responded. Demyx frowned slightly.

"That's it?"

The redhead glanced over his shoulder, "Well, Demyx, what do you want?"

Demyx shrugged and sighed, "I... Yeah, I don't know. Shouldn't we at least... Mention it? I mean, what if someone else gets attacked?"

Axel shrugged back as he answered, "Well, then _they_ can go and report it. 'Cause let's face it, Demyx – our reputations won't exactly back up our credibility."

Demyx was quiet for a moment, before finally nodding, "Okay, you have something there, I guess," he sighed and shrugged again, "I just... I dunno, something just doesn't feel right about this."

"Shadows came out of the bushes and attacked us," Axel repeated, hesitating before the doors to the library to look over again at Demyx, "What _is_ right about that?"

He entered the library before Demyx to respond, prompting the blonde to frown in his direction.

"Whatever, Axel," he muttered, shaking his head, "You and I both know there's going to be more to this."


	2. Chapter 2: Not Here To Fix Your Car

Nothing else happened that day, or the day after, and Axel was beginning to suspect the same for the next day, until he saw the shadow backstage.

He froze, meeting its glowing yellow eyes. It only hesitated for a moment, tilting its head and twitching its antennae before flattening to the ground and crawling away. Axel blinked and set down the box of props he'd been carrying, before slowly following after the thing. Okay, so he may have been right before about calling up someone and babbling on about some shadow-monsters and sounding nuts, but what would happen if he had one to bring back?

So, he cautiously made his way after the shadow-thing, though he lost it more than a few times in the darkness behind the curtains. On his way, he'd picked up what had probably once been a broom handle, and as he neared the thing, he raised it over his head, waiting for it to pop back up, waiting, waiting, wa-

"What, dare I ask, are you doing back here?"

To his shame, Axel jumped and twisted around to see an older student with dusty pink hair standing by the edge of the back curtain, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

Axel glared, glanced back at the pool of shadows he'd lost the creature in, and turned around to completely face the other theatre student.

"I could ask you the same thing, _Marluxia_," yes, Axel knew him, and not just as one of the drama department's favourites, but also as the biggest prick to ever walk the stage.

"Well, for your information – ah, what was it again?"

Axel narrowed his eyes. Oh, Marluxia knew his name, and Axel knew this, as well as the fact that this was an attempt to get under his skin. So, Axel refused to give him the satisfaction of an answer and just raised an eyebrow back.

"Well, no matter," Marluxia continued with a wave of his hand, unfazed, "I'm here to find some props for my class."

"Your class doesn't start until ten after," Axel said tersely, to which Marluxia smirked and said, "Which was three minutes ago."

Seeing the look on Axel's face, he continued, "Oh, is someone late for class?"

"Oh, does anyone actually care?" Axel retorted, starting to stalk off.

"Anyway, it seems the prop-box wasn't where it should be-"

"Well cry me a river, Princess Peach, I hope you don't rip your panties straining to pick up that cardboard box."

Marluxia didn't drop his expression as Axel strode by. Right before passing him completely, Axel paused long enough to shove the broomstick in Marluxia's hands, hard.

"By the way," he said lightly, "I was hunting rats. Have fun in class."

He liked to picture that pink-haired pansy being put off by that, clutching the broomstick and eyeing the shadows nervously, he really did, but he knew that it was more likely for him to roll his eyes and walk off to get the prop-box. 

-

"I ever tell you how much I _hate_ Marluxia?" Axel growled as he dropped into his seat in English.

Demyx widened his eyes and sat up.

"Yes, yes, you have, Axel, many times. So _many_ times, in fact, there's no reason for you to go on about it _again_."

Axel just made a very strained noise of frustration at the back of his throat and ran his fingers through his constantly messy hair.

"I mean – rrgh – he's just – a friggin' cocky conceited asshole!"

Larxene leaned back and raised an eyebrow, "And you're not?"

"Well, Larxene," Demyx said with a grin, "There's only enough room in this school for one conceited asshole, you see. One day those two and every other conceited asshole here will have to fight it out – there can be only one!"

Larxene grinned back, "Oh, man, I would _love_ to see that. Conceited Asshole Highlander! Marluxia would totally kick your skinny ass, Axel."

"Yeah, I'd like to see him try," Axel grumbled, crossing his arms.

In response, Larxene repressed a laugh, "And sometimes, so would I, dear Axel, secure with the knowledge that he _could_ completely kick your skinny ass."

"And what makes you so sure, exactly?" Axel honestly didn't care about this discussion – honestly! But he kept it up for the sake of having something to do.

Both Larxene and Demyx were quiet for a short moment, Larxene with an eyebrow raised and Demyx looking surprised.

"Well, where to start," Larxene thought aloud, tapping her chin with her finger.

"How about age?" Demyx prompted.

"Sure – he's older than you."

"So?"

"He's also bigger," Demyx, added, to which Larxene smirked.

"In more ways than one, I've heard," she said slyly. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Oh, a penis joke, how mature."

Demyx stopped snickering to throw in another fun fact, "Yeah, but seriously, he's in better shape – isn't he on some sports team?"

Larxene nodded, "Yeah, the lacrosse team. Apparently, he's very good. God knows the cheerleaders don't friggin' shut up about him."

Axel raised an eyebrow, "Lacrosse? Somehow I didn't have him pegged for that."

Larxene shrugged, "Yeah, well, he apparently thought football was too barbaric and hockey was too seasonal-"

"Wait a minute - football was too barbaric so he took up _lacrosse?_"

"Well, I dunno, I suppose he finds hitting people with sticks to be more civilized than tackling them himself," Larxene guessed with another shrug. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Pff, I bet he just doesn't want to get his hands dirty."

Demyx, meanwhile, was shaking his head, "No, no, no, guys, see – in _football_, there are _rules_ about hurting people. In lacrosse, he can probably do it and say it's an accident."

"... You seem pretty sure that he likes hurting people," Axel said with a raised eyebrow.

Demyx shot him a flat look. "Dude, look at him. I'm sure he didn't become the most popular person in the drama and athletics circuit through hugs and kisses."

Axel shrugged. Okay, sure, why not.

"So, anyway, we now have age, size, and strength over you," Larxene said with a smirk, counting points on her fingers, "Even if he didn't have a stick, he could probably figure something out. Plus, he's more sociable-"

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Axel demanded.

"Well, for one, that means he can probably get other people to kill you for him," Demyx pointed out, "You said yourself that he wouldn't want to get his hands dirty."

Axel rolled his eyes, "Right, sure, but in a one-on-one fight, his popularity probably wouldn't help him."

"Well, I dunno... I'd probably do a lot better with a ring of girls cheering me on than I would solo," Demyx mused.

Axel rolled his eyes, "Screw his screaming horde of fans! His popularity isn't part of the equation here!"

There was a short pause after Axel's outburst, where Larxene and Demyx shot each other a glance. Axel straightened and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked.

"Dude, you're totally jealous, aren't you?" Demyx said, not bothering to hide the amusement in his voice.

Axel scowled, "What? Why the hell would I be jealous of that creep?!"

"Well, let's start over again," Demyx said, readying his hands to list off, "He's older, he's in better shape, he's smarter-"

"I highly doubt that."

"- according to his grades," Demyx finished, too used to being interrupted to be annoyed by Axel's interruption, or Larxene's after as she started down another vein.

"He's better-looking, has better acting roles, hell, he has _fans_," she listed, "So, hey, he's probably a better actor,"

"Yeah, sure, if acting ability is judged solely on how many hair-flips and stupid grins you do a scene, then he is a far better actor than me," Axel said with a dramatic wave of his hands.

"Don't friggin' interrupt me," Larxene said, smacking the back of Axel's head before continuing, "he's a better actor, he's on the lacrosse team, he has better hygiene, he's prettier than you,"

"'Pretty' is a word I try to avoid associating myself with as much as possible," Axel stated, airquotes and all.

"Fine, then I'd say he's _hotter_ than you, Axel, any day," she corrected with a smirk.

Axel crossed his arms, "Sure, he's so hot he's _flaming_

"Oh, don't kid yourself, Axel," Demyx said, "have you ever looked at him?"

"I like my retinas as they are, thanks."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, but you can't deny that he has nicer hair than you," Demyx said with a shrug, before pointing at his mess of blue-blonde hair, "And trust me, I know hair."

"... Yeah, I can see that," Axel replied after a few seconds pause.

"Not to mention he's better-dressed than you," Larxene added, pointing at Axel's jacket, "Seriously, do you have a symbiotic relationship with that thing? I almost never see you without it."

Axel looked at his slightly faded, very old-looking maroon sweater, then back up at Larxene.

"So? I like this sweater."

"You've had it since grade nine."

"Grade eight, actually, but I don't see how this has anything to do with that prissy bastard."

Larxene shot him an odd look, then shook her head, "Alright, nevermind that then. Even if he does have cleaner, newer, better-matched clothes, he at least knows how to talk to people."

"The only reason he gets along well with anyone in this school is because half of them want to be him and the other half wants to get in his pants," Axel pointed out with a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"Because, as we stated once before and will no doubt say again now that we know it irritates you," Demyx started listing off again, "he has clothes, money-"

"Actually, we hadn't gotten to that yet," Larxene interrupted.

"Oh, you're right. Well, that too. Clothes, money, hair-"

"Beautiful, deep blue eyes," Larxene added with too much enthusiasm, resting her chin in her hands and batting her eyes.

Seeing the look that gained from Axel, Demyx followed suit with a wave of his hand and an extra bout of enthusiasm, "And that handsome build!"

"A perfect complexion," Larxene sighed, grinning.

"Not to mention his voice! Oh, so beautiful!" Demyx swooned, clapping his hands together, taking a moment to stare dreamily into space before returning to earth and adding, "But not as good as me or Chyre, obviously."

"Oh, and even the way he walks!" Larxene exclaimed, draping a hand across her forehead, "Not to mention his cute butt!"

"Oh, to die for!" Demyx added, hand over his chest, "He's enough to send any woman's heart aflutter!"

"Oh, please, don't make me sick," Axel gagged, interrupting their performance. That didn't stop the two immediately, as they leaned over the table in between them, clasped their hands and exclaimed.

"Oh, Marluuuuuuxia!"

Axel rolled his eyes, "Well, with a display like that, it's a wonder why you two aren't in the drama club."

"Because we have dignity and self-respect," Demyx said in a regular voice, smirking down at Axel.

"Oh burn," Larxene laughed, "That's coming from the wannabe musician!"

Axel rolled his eyes as the two sniggered at each other.

"But yeah," Demyx said after a moment, sliding back into his chair, "You're totally jealous.

Axel glared back the two of them, "Oh, shut the hell up, you both probably have posters of him on your wall."

Demyx and Larxene raised their eyebrows, Demyx asking "He made posters of himself?" while Larxene snorted.

"Oh, don't you get jealous too - the only pictures I have of people from school are of you two."

"Aww, that's actually kind of nice, Larxene."

Larxene smiled sweetly at Demyx, "You two share a special place on my dartboard."

A short pause followed, before Demyx shrugged and added, "Well, yeah, actually, that's probably still nice by Larxene's standards."

Larxene kicked Demyx's chair, though she was still smirking. Axel rolled his eyes and started getting out his stuff.

"Whatever, thank god it's Friday," he muttered.

He glanced over at Demyx as he scooted his chair out of reach of any further kicks, still grinning as he pulled out his own work, and very briefly considered passing him a note about what_ else_ he saw in the auditorium.

He shook his head instead – no, it wouldn't be worth Demyx bugging him about taking action or something, so he promptly tried forgetting about it.

-

Another night, another dream, and Axel was still in a rather sour mood the next day.

It wasn't until around 5 when he finally grew tired of staring at the blank walls of his room and slid off his bed, grabbed his jacket, and stalked out of his room and down the aging set of stairs.

"I'm going out!" he announced, not waiting for an answer before he slammed the door of the near-empty townhouse.

Once outside, he grabbed his phone and a few ringtones later, Demyx answered.

"Hello?"

"Meet me by the rec centre," Axel stated, cutting Demyx off before promptly hanging up on his protests.

Five minutes later, he was sitting in the shade of a tree across the street from the local recreation centre, killing time by watching a pair of people playing tennis in the courts behind the building.

Demyx showed up around ten minutes later, "Man, Axel, this had better be good – I have to meet my band in like," Demyx paused to check his watch, "Well, like twenty minutes or something. What's up?"

Axel didn't look Demyx's way, instead shifting his gaze more towards the building.

"Demyx, I keep seeing shadows. Am I crazy?"

"Are you crazy," Demyx repeated with an air of mock-thoughtfulness, dropping down beside Axel, "Hm, well, normally I'd say 'yes', but I saw them too, right?"

"Yeah, but they've been showing up again elsewhere. I saw one in the auditorium yesterday, and like five on the way home."

Demyx nodded, "Well, I dunno, I mean, I'm pretty damn sure that wasn't a cat watching me from the bushes this morning," a pause, "or a designer dog, but, how do you know it's not just a trick of the light?"

Axel pointed at the building across from them, "Well, is _that_ just a trick of the light, Demyx?"

In the shadows of the rec centre, Demyx spotted a small shadow crawling along the bottom of the wall. He was about to say something, when something else moving caught his eye and he saw another shadow – then two- then four – then more – he sucked in a breath as that one shadow seemed to suddenly be joined by a dozen more, much like finding ants on a sidewalk, though their constant sinking into the ground and reappearing from it made it hard to count them.

"Hoo, ah, shit," he finally commented.

Axel suddenly got to his feet, grabbing at Demyx's sleeve as he did so.

"C'mon," he said, before starting to walk into the sunlight.

Demyx blinked, looked from his sleeve then to Axel, "What?!"

"Come _on_," Axel repeated over his shoulder. Demyx blinked, then got up to follow.

"What are we doing?" he hissed once he caught up.

Axel shrugged, "Researching."

Demyx stopped in the middle of the road and blinked, "Wh- What? Axel, I don't know if you've forgotten, but, uh, _those things chased us to my house,_ remember?!"

"How do you know?" Axel slowed and glanced over his shoulder, "Did you watch them the whole time?"

"Well... no," Demyx admitted, starting to walk again, "But one _did_ jump at you."

"Well, maybe they're still harmless and we shouldn't worry about them," Axel almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as Demyx, but the musician let that slide as they reached the other side of the street. However, as they crossed the lawn and entered the shadow of the building, the creatures stopped reappearing.

"Well that was weird," Demyx commented, stopping and crossing his arms while Axel continued over to the wall, looking around as if expecting to find trails or tracks. Right as he straightened to say something, though, he stopped and froze. Demyx frowned and started forward, started a question, but Axel raised his hand and shushed him.

"I hear voices," he explained, and Demyx's eyebrows shot up.

"Dude, you really _are_ crazy-"

"No, you twit! I mean through the window," Axel hissed with a glare, pointing at the open window high up the wall, "here, gimmie a boost,"

Demyx briefly considered questioning the relevance of Axel's curiosity, but then decided it would be far less painful to just go along with his friend, and with a little effort Axel was soon on his shoulders and roughly head level to the window.

A few minutes of silence (well, as far as Demyx could tell) followed, and he decided to pose his question anyway.

"Axel, why are we doing-"

"Shh," Axel hissed again, looking away from the window slightly, "I think they're talking about the shadows."

"..._What?_" Demyx demanded once that registered, "_Who's_ talking about the shadows and-"

"Quit talking and I'll _find out,_" Axel responded through his teeth before looking back into the dark room.

The room was pretty unremarkable – just another one the centre used for summer programs, and as such it was cleaned up and empty except, of course, for the dark-haired man standing in the middle of it. And, presumably, whoever he was talking to – the room was pretty dark, what little light seeming to come through a pair of uncovered windows. Even still, the room seemed almost _too_ dark.

The man in the light – still hard to see in his black suit - shifted his weight and crossed his arms.

"What's in it for me?" he asked.

"What isn't in it for you?" a low, smooth voice answered, "You get the Heartless all to yourself, the power to control whatever you want, and all you have to do is let us run amok here and there and help us cover our tracks."

The man thought for a moment, "Moronic as they may be, people _will_ notice eventually," he pointed out, "And when they do, they'll either want a leader or a scapegoat."

The voice laughed, "By that time that happens, it will be too late. The Heartless would be too great, your, ahem, voters wouldn't to be able to stand up to them, the world will essentially be entirely under your control!"

The man paced a bit as he considered what he would say next. As he moved further into the light, Axel saw that his hair wasn't black, but a more natural dark-green, and something clicked...

"Hey, I think I've seen him before," he commented. Demyx made a noise of interest, and Axel squinted and tilted his head, trying to make out a face in the darkness, "I... I think," a dramatic pause broke his musing, before he reached his exciting conclusion- "I think he's some political guy."

"Some political guy," Demyx repeated flatly, shifting Axel's weight, "Okay, like, what, the mayor?"

"Maybe, hell if I know," Axel said with a hint of frustration, leaning on the window, "politics isn't my strong suit, alright?"

Demyx risked a glance up, and raised an eyebrow, "What_ is_ your strong suit, Axel?"

A short pause followed, as Axel frowned and glared.

"_Acting_, jackass."

"Oh, _really?_ I couldn't tell."

Axel was about to retort, but the man started speaking again and he turned back to watch.

"That sounds... rather tempting," The man said at last, slowly turning back to whoever he was talking to, "but to possess total control over a world that was already pitiful before being taken apart by your darkness... That seems a little less than interesting."

Instead of being disappointed by the rejection, however, the voice laughed, "Perfect! Then if you can prove yourself by managing the destruction of this world, you can join us in taking over other worlds!"

The man turned a little further towards the voice, looking intrigued, and the voice continued, "The power of our group, impressive as it already is, would be so much _more_ once we gain the resources of other worlds."

"Other worlds?" Axel murmured.

"What?!" Demyx called from below him.

Axel glanced down, "They're talking about other worlds."

Demyx's eyebrow rose again as he frowned at this information, "What, so we're dealing with aliens now or something?"

Axel shrugged, looking as confused and disbelieving as Demyx, "I have no idea, this is all too," he waved a hand as he searched for a word, "insane. Either these people are just insane and have nothing to do with anything, or they're insane and have everything to do with everything behind these shadows, or we're just insane and hallucinating the whole thing."

Demyx was quiet, so Axel went back to looking through the window. No sooner had he gotten his eyes to refocus, Demyx said something.

"What was that?" he asked, glancing back down.

"Well, I dunno, wouldn't it seem weird for us to have the same hallucination?"

Axel just stared at Demyx, before turning back to the window.

"So, wait then, are they really aliens-" Demyx started again after a few seconds, only to have Axel cut him off,

"Demyx, I have no idea! I know about as much as you do right now!" Axel hissed, waving his hand in an annoyed manner.

"Uh, no, you don't, I only know what _you're_ relating back to me," Demyx pointed out with a frown.

"Well, I'm telling you the interesting stuff, okay?" Axel glanced down, and was about to say more when Demyx piped up again.

"Axel, just because you find something interesting doesn't mean I will, I mean, you like acting, I like music, you like action movies with explosions, I like romantic comedies-"

"Fff- Alright, fine, just _trust_ that I'm telling the important stuff, okay?" Axel growled before turning back to the window.

"How do you know it's important?" Demyx persisted. Axel was pretty sure he felt his eye twitch. He was doing this just to piss him off, wasn't he?

"Well,_ I don't know_, Demyx, but if they talk about plans for world domination, then talk about tea-time, I'm going to assume that the tea is the less important of the two and tell you that they're plotting evil plans." A pause, "Uh, by the way, they're plotting stuff with shadows."

"Ah," Demyx said, and Axel went back to looking. The man was standing somewhere else, and was saying something, and Axel almost had the conversation again when-

"Hey, what if it's-"

"God_dammit_, rookie! Shut up!" Axel exclaimed a quote from one of his favourite movies while twisting around to glare at Demyx, slamming a fist on the stone sill, "I'm trying to do a little recon here, and that's very hard when I can only friggin' hear _you!_"

Demyx went quiet and Axel glanced back through the window, and proceeded to do a double take – he could see the political guy clearly except for his eyes, which were hidden behind the light glaring off his glasses.

"Oh," said the man coolly, "Dear me, we have some eavesdroppers."

"Do we now?" laughed the unseen one, their tone suggesting that they already knew long ago.

"Well, shit. Thanks a lot, Demyx, they heard us," Axel shot, trying to move away from the window.

"Hey, why's it my fault?" Demyx grunted as he tried to avoid dropping Axel, "You're the one beside the window!"

"Hm, what should we do?" the political guy asked in a way that suggested he was doing it more out of courtesy than curiosity.

The unseen one had an answer anyway, "_You_ will do nothing but watch as I, ahem, give you a bit of a demonstration."

Before Axel could figure out what _that_ was supposed to mean, Demyx's voice cut into his thoughts again.

"Ooo shit oh shit oh shit oh shit-"

Axel glanced down, but didn't need to ask what was bothering Demyx as he saw dozens of shadows – were they calling them 'Heartless'? – rise out of the ground around them and started moving in.

Axel grimaced and glanced back to the window, only to find himself staring into the great yellow eyes of another shadow, the surprise from this causing him to cry out and shove away from the building before he could even think about it. Unfortunately, this completely threw off his and Demyx's balance and sent them both falling to land flat on the ground. They landed surprisingly hard even though they were standing on grass, but the landing didn't really matter much when shadows were already making their move.

_Shit, shit,_ Axel repeated in his head, gritting his teeth as he tried to get to his feet, but the shadows were too quick, or too many – he couldn't even prop himself up on his elbows before they swarmed him. Somewhere a few feet away, Demyx was yelling and cursing as well, and it friggin' _killed_ him that he couldn't fight back.

_No, dammit!_ Axel thought forcefully to himself as his vision was blotted by shadows, _Dammit – I'm not—_

he reached the top of the stairs and the pattern around this floor was fiery red and orange but the background was contrast and the border the same, but there was still something entrancing about the pattern and the way it

Demyx was a goner, that much he was certain because they were outnumbered and outpowered and overwhelmed but then there was a bright flash of light – maybe more – and the shadows were gone.

Demyx only paused in his flailing to see this and the surprisingly dark, cloudy sky above (hadn't it been clear, like, fifteen minutes ago?), before he scrambled to his feet and glanced around for Axel. He found him quick enough, as they'd almost fallen on top of each-other after all, but he wasn't moving – oh, no, he tilted his head to the side and Demyx took this as a cue to run forward, duck down, and grab him by the arm.

"C'mon, you," he grunted, slinging the arm over his shoulder. Axel mumbled something Demyx couldn't understand as they started off, but it thankfully didn't take too long for Axel to come around completely and start moving his own feet.

"Demyx," he said after a moment, "I may have been out for a second, could you tell me what's going on?"

"Well," Demyx started, keeping an eye on the gravel path they were fleeing on, "You gave us away, and now they're sending shadows after us."

Axel blinked and raised his head a little higher, "Oh, I remember now. Nice going, dumbass."

"What?" Demyx glanced at him, and Axel shook his head.

"Nevermind. Just – look out!"

A few heartless suddenly appeared in their path, and with a yell of surprise (not a shriek, definitely), they let go of each-other and ran around it.

"Oh shit oh shit," Demyx muttered to himself, glancing over at Axel as he saw where they were heading.

"Axel, the forest's up ahead, should-"

"Just keep going!" Axel insisted.

Demyx looked forward and went back to muttering swears as he heard chittering around them, as yellow eyes and darkened shapes rose up from the sides of the path. And the sky became darker still as they ran, and he couldn't help but wonder if those other people by the rec centre were noticing any of this – but then couldn't remember if he'd even seen them at all as they fled.  
His eyes wandered to the upcoming arch of branches that made up the entrance to the forest (which of course was darker than everything else) and saw standing on one of the branches a tall, dark something barely discernable from the rest of the shadows around the forest.

"Axel," he said in a voice too high and wavering for his liking. Axel didn't look away from the path as he answered,

"Just keep running."

Demyx glanced back up, saw a flash of teeth under the dark thing's hood, and went back to cursing as he ran.

They entered the forest, and their world went black, or close to it, pursued by the chittering, fluttering sound of the shadows. However, those noises were quickly joined by another, sharper sound neither of them could place.

"Axel-" Demyx started again, but was cut off-

"Keep your eyes on the road, Demyx."

Demyx frowned and raised an eyebrow, "What road, Axel? I can barely see_ you_, let al-"

"No, seriously, keep your eyes on the road," Axel repeated, glancing at Demyx, "There's a turn up ahead that's on a bit of a hill and has no fence, and I th-" Axel's voice suddenly dropped away into a series of rustling leaves, moving branches, snapping twigs and violent cursing.  
Demyx might have made a snappy comment at that, had he not been running right beside Axel.

Once they finally stopped falling (but they weren't on the ground, that they were sure of), they took a moment to catch their breath.

"Oh, like that one?" Demyx said at last, only to be shushed by Axel. They both held their breath, listening for any signs of living shadows, but heard nothing but the whisper of leaves and creaking branches.

"Alright, cool, we lost them," Axel said, relieved. Demyx sighed and nodded, then looked up at the sky. Or, more accurately, at where he guessed the sky would be if he could see past the branches and leaves and the unnatural darkness that seemed to shroud itself over the forest.

"Dude, what time is it?" Demyx asked. Rustling and snapping followed his question, and if he squinted a bit, he could kind of something moving- and suddenly he was blinking at the seemingly blinding light of Axel's phone.

"Aw, geez, why didn't we think of _this_ before," Axel muttered, squinting himself as his eyes adjusted.

Demyx's vision became clearer and he looked around to find that unlike what he had first thought, they were not stuck in a tree, though it looked like they fell through one or two before landing in a rather large bush, stopping about a foot off the forest floor.

"Hey, cool, ground," he commented flatly, before an exclamation rose from Axel.

"What the hell! 6:17! Why is it so dark?!"

"The shadows?" Demyx suggested. Axel fell quiet. A few seconds passed, before the redhead started moving again, this time dropping out of the bush, still hitting a few buttons to keep his backlight on. Demyx followed his example, taking out his own phone before he tumbled out of the bush and onto the ground.

He climbed to his feet and opened his phone, dusting himself off a bit when he saw Axel suddenly hold a hand to his head and stumble forward.

"Woah, Axel! Are you okay?" Demyx exclaimed, holding out his hands to steady Axel if need be. However, it wasn't Axel who answered.

"Nah, don't worry, he'll be fine."

Axel and Demyx whipped around to where the gravelly voice had come from, holding up their phones to reveal something human-shaped standing on the path to their left, where they probably would have come from had they not fallen off the path earlier. The thing was dressed in black, the most noticeable article of clothing being its large, hooded coat. The hood, of course, was drawn up over the creature's head, making it hard to see anything under the shadow it cast, but the pair_ could_ see its teeth pretty clearly as it grinned at them. The figure took a step forward, they took a step back.

"I imagine that's pretty standard for a first-"

"Gyah!" Demyx suddenly blurted before pitching his phone at the guy's head. As soon as he had done that, Axel had a hold on his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction, phone held out to light the way.

"Ow – son of a bitch!" the thing – the man's voice echoed after them, but there was no way in heck that they were going to look back at him.

"Run! Shit – just_ run!_" Axel shouted needlessly, and they sped through the forest, barely dodging some rocks and branches and tripping over others. As they ran, the sky seemed to clear and the path seemed to brighten. The boys got the feeling that this was more than them just leaving the forest, but they had more important things to dwell on.

Finally, after minutes that felt twice as long as they were, Axel and Demyx burst out of the trees and onto the sidewalk bordering them. They stumbled further away from the forest, crossing to the other side of the street where they promptly collapsed. Axel looked weakly towards the forest from where he was sitting on the curb and shut his phone before leaning back on his hands, while Demyx panted against the support-wall of a house's lawn.

"What – the hell – was that?" Demyx gasped out.

"More of a work-out - than I've ever wanted - or needed in my life," Axel huffed back, closing his eyes.

"Okay, yeah," Demyx continued, turning around to lean his back against the wall and to look down at Axel, "Okay – but what – alright, shadows chased us – but – guah, did that _actually_ happen?"

Axel held up a bare arm covered in scratches from the bush, but also possessing a few larger ones that could only belong to an animal – or shadow.

"Yes, Demyx," he answered calmly, "That really did happen. And before you ask, no, we did not get stoned at any point in time today."

Demyx shook his head and sighed, "Okay, that was nuts. And you said whoever you were listening to sicced them on us?"

Axel opened his eyes, and kept looking in the forest's direction as he shook his head and answered, "I don't know, yeah, probably, or that guy was just acting, but," he made a frustrated noise and shook his head again.

"I don't know. My head hurts, and my legs and lungs feel like dying right now."

"Yeah," Demyx agreed half-heartedly, before looking at the forest too.

The two teens stayed like that for several minutes, half-focusing on the forest as they caught their breaths, perhaps in case another shadow wandered out after them. But no, there was nothing, and soon enough, Axel got to his feet.

"Okay, let's go," he said, and started walking down the sidewalk.

Demyx shrugged and followed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I don't know about you," he commented after Axel, "but I'm _totally_ not going to be able to sleep for awhile."

Axel grunted in response, and they were both silent again.

A few minutes later, they were out of sight of the forest, and Demyx mumbled something.

"Come again?"

"I dunno, So we overheard them, now what do we do?"

"... I have no clue."

The subject was dropped again. After a minute, Axel suddenly shot Demyx a look. Demyx's gaze flickered over, and he raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Romantic comedies," Axel stated, a smile working his way on his face. Demyx blinked, then narrowed his eyes.

"Don't even go there."

Axel was grinning now, and walked ahead of Demyx, "Man, and I thought pink-hair was questionable."

"Oh, hey, I wouldn't talk, Axel: Queen of the Stage-Play."

Axel stopped, and Demyx was able to catch up again. Now Axel was glaring at Demyx, who only smirked as he continued.

"Oh, come on, that doesn't count!" Axel snapped, stalking after.

"Well, whatever you say, Axel, but need I remind you which of the two of us wore a dress in public not once, but _twice_ in their life?"

"Oh, come on," Axel said after a moment, "One of those times was for a group project, and the other was for a theatre thing in friggin'_ elementary-school_."

Demyx just snickered, "Actually, I was referring to the _other_ times."

Axel paused, thinking for a moment before narrowing his eyes, "Oh – well – your mother sucks cock for munny!"

Without missing a beat, Demyx retorted, "Yours does it for free!" and ran ahead.

Axel grinned and started after – but damn, he was _tired_ – the day's events still lingering distantly in his mind despite efforts to ignore them.

--

Elsewhere, a hooded figure stepped over the threshold of a darkened apartment. He quietly closed the door behind him, before walking further into the front room. Suddenly, a glowing weapon appeared in his hand, which he raised, aimed – and hit the bull's-eye of one of the various dartboards around the room with a glowing round.

He adjusted his aim and repeated the exercise until the dim glow of the projectiles allowed him enough light to see. With an exasperated sigh, he flipped down his hood and undid his jacket, slinging it over a chair that had seen better days. Great, just great, he'd let _them_ get away, exhausted his powers more than he usually liked, and gained nothing, not even knowledge-

He smirked slightly while he crossed the room, realizing this was not necessarily the case – he _did_ find something that made the whole trouble worth something – the kid. Well, one of them, yes, that certainly was interesting.

He dropped down in a slightly less beat-up chair, in front of an aging desk, and promptly smacked his forehead against its surface.

Yes, that certainly _would_ be something, if he had some way of finding that kid…

And then, as if in answer to his thoughts, a fast ring tone too bright and happy to be his own cut through the apartment's silence.

Slowly, he raised his head to look at his coat, where he had tucked the phone the other boy had thrown at him. The smirk made its way across his face again.


	3. Chapter 3: The House of Ideas is Empty

Sunday was spent holed up in his room, sneaking down to use the computer for an hour to find Demyx doing more or less the same thing. Over their trusty instant-messengers, Demyx informed Axel that his band was ticked off at _both_ of them for Demyx's no-show, that he couldn't sleep at all, not even with his lights on, oh, and also if this meant they should say something _now._  
After telling Demyx to stop complaining - he had just as hard of a time sleeping thanks to the noises his house made – Axel informed Demyx that he really didn't hear anything too important from the guys they were listening to, honestly. So there was really nothing to report, because again, they lacked solid proof of any shadow-attacks. The wide variety of scratches and scrapes they had gained could have been easily credited to their run through the forest, and anyway, who'd believe them?

Monday saw Axel coming to school with a broom handle (totally a prop for an English or Drama presentation, really) and meeting up with Demyx and his old guitar-case. They were silent other than a short greeting as they made their way to school.

Classes were business as usual after lunch, once they were sure shadows weren't going to jump them. The classes they had together were unusually quiet and productive, something Larxene noticed but chose not to comment on – it wasn't often the two idiots were quiet enough for her to get some work done on her own, though she couldn't help but wonder what succeeded in scaring those two silent where she failed...

After their last class, Axel was left to walk home on his own, Demyx having to attend a band rehearsal.  
Home, then sleep.

_Glowing doors stood in the centre of the platform, leading to nowhere_

And off to school the next day with the broomstick, but again nothing - until lunch, when his phone started ringing.

Call display said it was Demyx, which was odd, because surely if Demyx wanted to talk to him, he'd find him on his own. Unless it was something_ really_ urgent...

Axel answered, and was met with a voice that was definitely_ not_ Demyx's.

"Axel, right?" the gruff voice from days ago said.

Axel widened his eyes, but before he could answer, the voice continued, sounding amused.

"So, you've probably noticed by now that you're missing something very important."

"What?" Axel hissed, but then things started clicking... no, no, this guy was just screwing with him.

"You're bluffing," Axel stated. The voice chuckled.

"Why don't you come and find out, then? I'll be waiting at that abandoned lot you pass on your way to school." The man then hung up without waiting for an answer.

Axel lowered his phone and stared at it. No. He was bluffing, he was bluffing...

"No, there isn't a band practice today," said the music teacher, "and if there was, I doubt he'd be here, he wasn't in class this morning."

He was bluffing.

"No, we haven't seen Demyx at all," said the other founder of Demyx's band, "but if you do see him, kick his ass for us – we were supposed to practice today."

He was _just bluffing._

"'The hell would I see him at all before English?" Larxene said with a raised eyebrow. Axel shook his head.

"I don't know, I was just checking."

Larxene frowned, "Hell, why are_ you _looking for him before English?"

To her chagrin, Axel started walking away.

"Nevermind," he said without looking back, "I'm just... curious."

"Wait, what the hell are you curious about?!" Larxene snapped after him, starting forward.

Somehow, Axel found the energy to start running then, despite his lack of sleep, and Larxene stopped and crossed her arms, glaring after the redhead.

... Well, whatever, it wasn't her problem. But still... She hated it when people poorly hid things from her.

-

"He-e-ey, what do you know, you did show!" The voice exclaimed the moment Axel stepped into the empty lot. Axel didn't let up his glare.

"Shut up and show yourself," he snapped.

"Woah! Aren't we just all sunshine and rainbows today!" The voice laughed, but showed himself anyway with a helpful 'up here'. Axel redirected his gaze to the roof of a building making up one of the borders of the lot.  
Sure enough, there stood the same hooded figure from the shadow-attack.

"Very impressive," Axel said dryly, "Now do I get to see your face?"

"Only if you're a good boy," the man taunted, wagging a finger.

Axel gritted his teeth, and kept glaring, "Why the hell did you call me here?"

The man clicked his tongue, "My, aren't we touchy. But here, catch," with no warning other than that, the man tossed something at Axel. Axel barely missed, letting the keys and wallet fall to the dirt at his feet.

"They fell out of your pockets or something when you went off the drop," the man explained casually, before adding, "Oh, and that reminds me, this belongs to your friend."

Demyx's phone was tossed next, which Axel caught without taking his eyes from the man.

"Where is he?" he growled.

"Aw, not even a – wait, what?" the man seemed confused, so Axel repeated himself.

Axel took a step forward, "Demyx, you jerk! What did you do with him?!"

"... Yeah, I still have no idea what you're talking about," the man replied, shaking his head, "I didn't do anything to anyone."

"Then where was he today?" Axel pressed.

"Home sick?" the man offered with a shrug, "Dude, I'm not the kid's mom, I have no idea."

There was a tense silence, before the man sighed, "Look, why don't you just _call _him if you don't believe me."

Axel continued to glare, but dialled Demyx's home number anyway.

A few minutes later, he had found out from Demyx's mom that the teen was recovering from his days of not sleeping, and was silent for a moment before slowly hanging up. The discovery would have been considerably less annoying if the man didn't have such a shit-eating grin on his face.

"But you had his-" Axel began, but then remembered what had happened and slapped a hand to his forehead, "Oh, no wait,"

"Yeah, dude threw it at me, remember? Finders keepers!"

"Oh, shut up," Axel muttered, pocketing the phone.

"Aw, hey now, it's okay, it happens to-"

"Shut it, alright?"

"- everyone, geez, you don't have to so hostile."

Axel glared again for a few moments, before turning away, "I'm leaving."

"Ah – hey wait!" the man called, sounding surprised.

Axel turned and glared, "Why should I?"

The man chuckled after a pause, and pulled his outstretched hand back, "Right, okay, believe it or not, I didn't call you here to mock you or, really, to return your stuff," he said, glancing down at him, "I_ actually_ called you here to discuss something we both might have in common."

Axel crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow.

"Oh? And what would _we_ have in common, huh? School attendance?"

The man only laughed at that, before suddenly jumping off the roof of the shop.

Okay, so it wasn't a_ huge_ drop, but it was certainly enough to do some damage from just jumping like that. Axel started, undid his arms and stepped forward, choking on an exclamation, but was cut short as to his surprise, the man landed feet-first – hit the ground_ lightly_ and stood up as if he'd just hopped off a curb.

"H-how-" Axel stammered.

The man grinned and continued as if he hadn't left the building, "Now, those shadows the other night, I think whoever is leading them is planning something really bad. Well, that's a no brainer, right?" he slipped his hands in his pockets and started walking, "But I think I actually have an idea on what they're planning, or at least how to find out for sure."

He stopped a few feet away from Axel and stared at him, "I _also_ happen to have a pretty good idea how to stop them. What I want is your help. Think you can spare it?"

Axel blinked, stepped back, then closed his eyes and shook his head as if to clear it. He smirked weakly after, and glanced back up at the man.

"Heh, and what do you expect me to do? I'm just a random high-school kid who was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

The man was quiet, and Axel was pretty sure he was squinting at him from under that hood.

"Tell me, Axel," he said after a moment, "have you been having weird dreams lately?"

Axel frowned, "Define 'weird'," he said suspiciously.

The man was unusually solemn as he answered, "I think you know what I mean, don't you?"

Axel was quiet, and the man waited patiently for when he finally shook his head.

"Alright, what do I do?" he said, sounding subdued.

The man immediately laughed.

"Well, you can follow me for starters. Come on!" And with no more warning than that, the man started running.

Axel started, then started after. He wasn't sure how, exactly, but he managed to keep the man in black in sight, as he ran down one street and turned to another Axel had_ never_ been down. He knew he had to keep after the man now, so he wouldn't get hopelessly lost, something he definitely didn't want to do as the streets seemed to get darker with every turn. Then – he was at a dead-end, but the man was nowhere to be found.

Axel blinked, then, remembering his stunt from before, looked up in time to catch a glimpse of the man's coat before he disappeared out of his view.

"The ladder, kid, hurry up," he called from out of sight.

Axel looked at the emergency ladder that ended a foot over his head, and frowned. Cursing the man and his apparent powers, he managed a feat of upper-body-strength he didn't think was possible for him and pulled himself up the ladder.

"Took you long enough," said the man exactly as Axel had expected him to.

"Yeah, thanks for the help," he bit back dryly, before taking a seat beside the man, "now, what the hell did you drag me here for?"

After a moment's thought, the man crossed his arms and nodded, "Alright, let's play a game of connect the dots while you catch your breath."

Axel blinked, completely taken off-guard by the comment, "Uh?"

The man again continued as if uninterrupted, "Okay, first dot, I know of the shadows, you know of the shadows. From there, I'm going to assume that you've also been attacked by them before, huh?"

Axel nodded, the man continued, "Alright, next, the stained-glass dreams. I've had them, you've had them, right?"

"Yeah," Axel said, honestly feeling a little weird that he and a complete stranger had had the same bizarre dream.

"Okay, so from there, we can probably deduce two more things; one – that you probably have powers like me, and two – you can probably call up something like this,"

At that, the man got to his feet and walked to the ledge of the building. Axel followed and looked over the side to see an alarming amount of shadows crawling around the alleyway below. As he turned to look at the man and try to see the expression under his hood, the man held a hand out, and with a flash of light –

"What the hell is that?!"

The man only smirked before firing the weird, glowing, purple crossbow-gun-thing. Faster than Axel's eyes could follow, a beam of light shot from the crystal-like-thing at the end of the 'barrel' and went straight through the head of a shadow. The shadow froze, then disappeared in a puff of black... Stuff. Too light to be powder, but it wasn't exactly smoke, either.

"Um. Ookay," Axel said calmly, leaning back, and turning to face the man, "what the hell was that, exactly?"

"It was how I saved your ass on Saturday, for starters," he remarked calmly, shooting a few other shadows.

Axel raised an eyebrow, "That was you? I mean-" he shook his head, "I knew it was you in those branches, but, you mean to tell me you shot up the heartless following us?"

The man nodded, "Yep, I was the one who got the heartless off you. Hey," he paused in his shooting long enough to look over at Axel, "Where'd you learn the name for them?"

Axel shifted his weight and glanced away, "Uh, I was kind of spying on the guys who sent them. That's kind of why they were after us in the first place."

The man stopped shooting entirely and grinned, "Awesome, tell me what you heard? No, wait," the man glanced around, "Eh, we should probably do this somewhere else, I don't want those little goons to hear us."

Axel quirked an eyebrow and jerked a thumb back at the heartless, "Those things can hear us from here? Let alone understanding and reporting?"

"Hell if I know, I've never actually seen 'em do it," the man said with a shrug, before relaxing his hand and making his gun disappear, "but no way am I gunna risk that."

Axel thought on this for a moment, watching the man walk towards the side of the building with the ladder. He nodded and shrugged, "Okay, true, I'll give you that."

"Yeah. Oh, by the way, make sure they don't follow you home or anything," the man said casually, "I'm going to guess you have a family you don't want getting caught in this."

Axel nodded, and stopped at the ledge.

"Hey, bef-" he stopped suddenly as the man jumped off the building. Axel rolled his eyes and sighed, before swinging a leg over the ladder.

"Friggin' ladder," he mumbled on his way down. Fortunately, descending didn't take as long as climbing, so he was soon dropping to the ground.

"Okay, _now_," Axel said firmly enough to make the man stop mid-step and glance over at him, "if I'm going to work with you, can I at least get a name? I don't want to have to call you 'sir' or something weird."

The man turned entirely and put his hands on his hips, "And just why the hell not?"

Axel raised an eyebrow back at him and copied his gesture, "Because this doesn't have to be any weirder than it is."

The man was quiet for only a few seconds, before he shrugged and laughed, "Okay, sure. Call me Xigbar."

"Xigbar," Axel repeated dryly.

"Yup," said the man, apparently named Xigbar, as he stuck his hands in his pockets and turned away again, "now come on, you have stuff to tell me."

Axel frowned and followed, "Right, and how many coupons do I have to earn to see your face?"

"Okay, that thing about making this weirder? You just did it anyway, cupcake."

Axel found himself rolling his eyes again as they left the old, winding streets.

"So, you a stalker or something?" he said, breaking the silence after a minute.

Xigbar glanced over his shoulder, "What was that?"

"How did you know I walk by that lot on my way to school?" Axel started again, "Did you follow me home or something?"

"Oh, that," Xigbar shrugged and turned back onto the street with the lot in question, "actually, around there is another heartless hot-spot I frequent, and I happened to spot you and your friend walk by a few times."

"Really," Axel said dryly.

"Yeah, really. Hell, I can probably show you tonight if you don't believe me, but," Xigbar stopped in front of the lot and checked his watch.

"Yeah, actually, you know what? I'll show you tonight."

At Axel's confused look, Xigbar looked up and added, "… Your lunch-break is over now, isn't it?"

Axel didn't have a watch, and he didn't want to check his phone, so he assumed Xigbar was right and shrugged.

"Well, yeah, probably, but isn't this a little more important?"

Xigbar sounded like he was grinning, "Trust me, I've been fighting the heartless for years. A few more hours without back-up won't be too much trouble."

Axel frowned as Xigbar turned back and started towards the building he'd been on at the start of this meeting.

"'Sides, they show up more at night. You'll find it a lot more interesting than waiting around here for the next few hours, I'm sure."

"Right, fine," Axel agreed with a sigh, "When are you showing me the heartless here?"

Xigbar hesitated and hummed before answering, "Let's say eight, yeah?" and then jumping to the top of the building.

He turned back and probably grinned, "See you around, kid!"

Axel didn't do much else other than raise an eyebrow (he'd been doing that a lot, hadn't he?) as he watched Xigbar leave, then turned to walk away himself.


	4. Chapter 4: Action Adventure Time!

Axel didn't go back to school. Instead, he poked around a nearby convenience store, wandered by the rec centre and then went home.. His mom was still at work, and his sister was either at school or at a friend's house – he didn't bother looking at the clock on his way in, but figured it was the latter. He toyed with the ideas of dorking around on the computer or watching a movie, but eventually decided to lie around his room.

A few hours later and he was back at the lot, dressed mostly in black. And there he waited, leaning against the wall of the building Xigbar so loved to pose on. He wasn't sure how long he'd been standing there, smacking his trusty broomstick against his leg, but after what _felt_ like another half-hour, he finally saw some movement. Unfortunately, what he saw was a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring at him from the middle of the dark, abandoned lot.

Axel blinked, wide-eyed, but didn't get to do more than grip his makeshift weapon with both hands before something bright streaked through the night air and into the dark creature. As the Heartless disappeared, another dark shape dropped down from above Axel, landing in a crouch a few feet in front of him. The figure straightened and turned around.

"'Sup?" Xigbar said, sounding like he was probably grinning again. Axel rolled his eyes and lowered his broom-handle; Xigbar apparently saw this from under his hood and snorted

"Aww, isn't that cute, you plan to beat them away with a stick!" he sang, to Axel's annoyance. He followed up with a less amused, "Y'know that's only going to be good for keeping them away, right?"

"That's the idea, isn't it?" Axel replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, no, hate to break it to you, but on a 'Heartless Hunt', the goal is to send them back to wherever the hell they came from," Xigbar said with a sigh, shaking his head. "Or, phrasing it in a less sugar-coated way, kill them. Kill them all. Kill 'em dead, et cetera."

Axel crossed his arms and frowned. "Alright, fine, what do you recommend, then?"

"Something metal and sharp, for starters," Xigbar offered, prompting Axel to roll his eyes again.

"Oh! Well, then let's just go down to the local House of Knives and grab a sword then!"

"Yeah, yeah, hold your venom, kid, I get the idea," Xigbar said, raising his hands. "Since our chances of getting something more... weapon-like are very low, I'd suggest a shovel or pipe or something to that effect."

"Great, have any of those on hand?" Axel asked, voice absent of curiosity.

"Sure!" Xigbar exclaimed with far too much enthusiasm, "Because I always carry around lead pipes and shovels in case I decide to go hobo-killing!"

_"What?"_ Axel said disbelievingly, catching Xigbar's attempt at sarcasm, "So, what, did you expect someone who's never actually fought Heartless to do? Were you hoping the mystical powers I supposedly have would psychically tell me what would best kill one of those things? Or were you hoping I'd be able to magically pull weapons out of my ass like you can?"

Xigbar opened his mouth to reply, leaned forward, paused, then shrugged. "Well, actually, yeah, I was hoping for that last one to happen, but failing that, I was kinda banking on the hopes that you would have some _common sense._ C'mon, seriously, what's stronger: metal, or wood?"

_"Fine,"_ Axel said through his teeth, "Why don't you just lend me a gun or something?"

Xigbar was actually quiet for a few seconds, before he shrugged again, "Well, sure, if you think that'll work."

With a flash of light, the gun-thing appeared in his hand; however, the light caught the movement of something else in the darkening lot.

The light quickly faded away, but Axel and Xigbar were still staring at the large (and growing) number of yellow eyes watching from around the lot. Xigbar instantly had another gun out, while Axel braced himself with his broomstick.

"Well, that's interesting," Xigbar commented in a surprisingly casual voice.

"What? What's interesting, how quickly they're showing up, or how much they outnumber us?" Axel demanded, not taking his eyes from the unnatural shadows.

"Well, I've never actually seen them in this lot before, let alone a group this size. It's really curious."

"Oh, if that's all!" Axel said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Yeah," Xigbar started, shaking his head before continuing in a much firmer voice, "Right, let's make for that streetlight over there, I think they'll be less likely to swarm us since they're generally not fond of light."

"Mmkay, sounds like a plan," Axel said to let Xigbar know he was listening, backing up with him.

They were quiet until they were well under the light, where Axel also noticed eyes watching them from other pools of darkness in the street.

"So, Xigbar, now what?" Axel drawled, his tone suggesting a growing lack of belief in the other's competence.

"I'm thinking," said Xigbar snippily. They had a few seconds to guess at the amount of Heartless appearing as things seemed to get darker, when the light suddenly flickered.

They looked up to see several pairs of yellow eyes watching them from the top of the streetlamp.

Another Heartless appeared and squished itself in beside its brethren, and the light flickered out again. When it came back, it was dimmer than before.

"...Ah," was Xigbar's only comment.

"Y'know what? You're not really my favourite person right now," Axel noted dryly.

"Shut up and run, knucklehead."

The pair took off seconds before the light blinked out for good, closely pursued by shadows.

Axel could hear Xigbar swearing a blue streak as they ran, shortly accompanied by the sounds of him firing his guns. He found himself idly wondering how good Xigbar's aim was when he was running, but was forced to abandon this when glowing eyes faded into existence before him.

He glanced to his broomstick. Well, their main goal _had_ shifted away from 'killing them all dead', right?

He swung and swept the Heartless aside, not quite as far as he would have liked, but hey, at least they weren't in the way. Oh, wait – one was still close enough to pounce, which it looked like it was going to do. Axel narrowed his eyes and raised his broomstick.

"Hey, kid, what's the hold-up? Keep moving or-"

Xigbar stopped as Axel brought the stick down and smashed the Heartless into dust.

"... Huh," he said after a second. Axel shot him a look over his shoulder.

"That's it? Not even a 'good job'?"

He could _just_ see Xigbar grinning as he pressed a fist against his back and shoved, "Can it and swing, broom boy, we're not out of the woods yet."

Which was true – While Xigbar had thinned out the numbers behind them, there were still a few more pairs of eyes than Axel was comfortable with.

Axel, however, matched Xigbar's grin and raised his broomstick.

"Aww, I don't know, I think we can probably take--" he stopped suddenly as something caught his eye, "- is that – is that thing in _armour?_"

Xigbar swore and gave Axel another shove, "Yeah, motivated yet?"

Axel didn't argue this time, instead running and swinging the broomstick to clear the way. Xigbar wasn't firing as much now, but judging by the glow he still had both of his guns out, which was really fine by him. It took another few feet of running for Axel to realize that it was slightly lighter than before – hm, he'd also barely noticed that it had gotten dark to begin with, but with all the Heartless, he supposed it made sense –

"OW – Shit!" Xigbar swore as the broomstick smacked his shin, effectively bringing Axel back to their little chase scene.

"Quit waving that thing like a feather-duster and pick a street that _isn't_ infested with Heartless!" Xigbar barked back angrily, and Axel imagined he was glaring at him.

"Well, I think we're almost home free anyway," Axel said more to himself as he looked at the choices in front of him. They had a few metres of street to go before the street ended ahead of them, and coming up were the last two roads that branched off from this one. So, should he go left, or should he go right--

"Anytime you wanna give us an escape route," Xigbar hinted impatiently.

"Uh, Uh..." Axel looked from one street to the other, "This one!" with that exclamation, Axel turned down the street on their right, Xigbar closely following. It seemed like it was a good choice – the street was considerably brighter, and the Heartless weren't showing up ahead of them.

Axel slowed as Xigbar picked off the last few Heartless, half-laughed, and looked over his shoulder. Alright, so that was a little weird and rather unpleasant, but –

He heard something in front of him and looked forwards, to see what he could only describe as a large ball of darkness solidifying into something easily twice his size.

Axel didn't get to see immediately what this something was going to be, as he was suddenly yanked backwards by the neck of his shirt and shoved to the side. Axel hit the ground with a choke, and over that he heard what sounded like someone running into a wall, closely followed by a cloth bag being dragged across the ground. Or, Axel thought with a sinking feeling as he pushed himself up, some_one_ skidding across it. He looked over and sure enough, a black shape lay unmoving several feet away, illuminated slightly by still-tangible guns.

Something shuffled nearby, and Axel quickly remembered _why_ Xigbar yanked him out of the way. Turning, he did a double take at the massive, round, and overall _strong_-looking Heartless standing far too close for comfort. It finished turning to face him, and pulled its fist back for something, but it simply moving was enough motivation for Axel to get to his feet and start running. There wasn't much he could do- even if he hadn't have dropped the broomstick when he was knocked to the ground, he doubted it would do much against that massive thing. So he ran, even though he wasn't so sure of his plan once he got out of range. He definitely wasn't going to just leave Xigbar there, though, so when he reached the other man he grabbed him under the shoulders and attempted to keep going.

Unfortunately, Axel found that either moving bodies wasn't as easy as it looked in movies and T.V., or Xigbar was just surprisingly heavy for someone who could hop off buildings. After a few seconds of trying and gaining only a few inches of ground, Axel gave up, let out a breath and dropped Xigbar, before staring back up at the massive Heartless. He grimaced as he bent with his hands on his knees, still attempting to catch his breath from their running before, and as he glanced down, he noticed something else. Contemplating it for only a moment, he ducked down and grabbed one of Xigbar's gun-things from out of his hand.

It was heavier than Xigbar made it look. Axel clenched his teeth and managed to lift it with two hands, and shakily aim it at the Heartless. He grinned a little, staring at the dead Heartless walking, and reached for the trigger. Except-  
There didn't seem to be a trigger. Axel's grin wavered a little as he moved his fingers around, trying to find whatever Xigbar pulled or hit to make those glowing crystal-things shoot. With the Heartless advancing still and finding no success, Axel looked up from the gun, at the tiny ball he assumed served as the big thing's head, then at the thing's arms which looked to be as big around as his _waist_, and began to feel a bit panicky. It didn't help any when the gun suddenly disintegrated out of his hands, but he barely had time to register this when something grabbed him firmly by the shoulder and pulled him back. Axel looked up just in time to watch Xigbar fire a shining shot from his other gun and nail the Heartless right between the eyes. The Heartless stumbled back, mouth open with no sound, and Xigbar shot again and again, and the Heartless fell back and vanished through a frame of wispy darkness.

Xigbar turned his glare to Axel now, and instructed with a fair amount of force, "Don't- touch- my- guns. Got it?"

"Memorized," Axel with an unsteady voice and half a weak smirk, a little taken aback at how irritated Xigbar sounded. He quickly fell out of this uneasiness when he noticed he was missing something.

After a second Xigbar seemed to realize this too, as he let go of Axel to step away and flip his hood back up, concealing his unusually dark hair and fairly obvious scar.

"Uh, you saw nothing, kid," he said in a less irritated tone.

Axel grinned slyly, "Hey, with a mug like that, I can't blame you. So what'd you do to get that, exactly?"

Xigbar's back was to him as he refrained form answering, his other gun gone as well and freeing up his hand to clench and unclench in frustration.

"Look, it's none of your business, alright?" He said after a few seconds, glancing over his shoulder. Axel was fine with that for an answer – it was probably a little personal anyway. However, it was by no means the only thing about his appearance he could criticize.

"Alright, fine. Then can you tell me how you managed to screw up your hair like that so I may never do it myself?"

Axel could hear Xigbar sigh exasperatedly from where he was standing.

"My hair is naturally black, Axel, and what I do with it is _also_ none of your business."

The redhead arched an eyebrow.

"Really? That's kind of weird."

Xigbar shook his head and started walking up the street.

"Yeah, sure. Want me to call you a cab or something?"

Axel shot Xigbar a confused look, "Uh, why? I can walk home from here in like, fifteen, maybe twenty minutes."

Xigbar stopped to turn and stare at Axel.

"Axel, consider your week, and then what just happened. Think about it as hard as you have to."

Axel frowned a little as he did so.

"Mmhm, so I ask again: Want me to call you a cab or something?"

"Yeah, I guess. Seems a little extreme, though," Axel admitted with a sigh.

"Yeah, well, there were _way_ more Heartless than there should have been waiting for us," Xigbar explained as he started forward again, "I'd rather we be safe than sorry, a- Oh _dammit!_"

Xigbar stopped and slapped his forehead, then turned to Axel again.

"I can't believe I forgot to friggin' talk to you about what you heard at the rec centre!" he finished without prompting from Axel.

Axel blinked, then recalled as well that yes, he _hadn't_ gotten around to talking to Xigbar about that. Whoops.

"Oh yeah. Uh. Weren't we going to do that tonight?"

"Well, yeah. I guess those plans kind of blew up," Xigbar said bitterly.

"Uh, why can't we still talk?" Axel asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well, a, I don't want Heartless listening in if they're still around, b, I don't know how much time we have, and c, I'm really friggin' tired, and if we're going to discuss this, I want to do it when I'll be more likely to remember what we said later."

Axel shrugged and nodded, "Okay, fair enough."

Xigbar nodded as well, "Alright, so in the meantime, how about you write down what you heard, and then hand it to me next time we go on one of these outings," he suggested, glancing down at Axel, "which, will be during the day, I promise."

"Sure," Axel agreed. Afterall, it wasn't like he usually had places to go after school. Or, sometimes, during it.

"Alright, cool," Xigbar commented, reaching into his pocket, "See you on Thursday, then, kiddo."

Axel raised an eyebrow.

"What, you're leaving already?"

Xigbar looked over his shoulder, "Yeah. I really don't want anyone else seeing me."

Axel frowned, but let it go. Neither said anything as Xigbar tossed a few pieces of munny to Axel, and walked away.

Several blocks away, another boy opened his eyes and sat up at his desk, frowning slightly. Despite his focus, that most definitely was _not_ a repeat of the stained-glass dream from days before. However...  
However, some things certainly _felt_ familiar enough to be from the same dream...

Or at least worth noting, he concluded as he scribbled down the more important points of the dream before he could forget them. Perhaps this was supposed to be a sign, then, some way of giving him a direction to follow.

When he finished, he sighed quietly and set his head back down. Oh, well, it wasn't like he had anything _else_ to do tonight.


End file.
